From Uganda with Love

Fashion is a storyteller. What you wear can say volumes about who you are, and even what you believe in. At ModCloth, we’re enthusiastic believers in one of our newest brands, MEND! Maybe you’ve seen the From Uganda with Love Bag in Laker and Lamunu in our New Arrivals section, and know that each bag is handmade in Uganda. If you didn’t know that little story, keep on reading, because it’s one worth telling.

As a subdivision of Invisible Children, MEND trains women who were former abducted child soldiers to become self-sufficient seamstresses, allowing them to support themselves and their families in a region that hasn’t known stability for decades. Abducted women are often used as sex slaves, and those lucky enough to escape are ostracized by society because of their affiliation with the rebels. MEND empowers these women again with employment so they can save money and earn interest for the first time in their lives. Each MEND bag proudly bears a tag and autobiographical card showing the name of the woman who sewed your bag, such as Amono Lily below.

MEND and Invisible Children’s goal is usher war-torn Uganda into social stability, and believes in long-term development and direct communication with individuals and local institutions to best understand the needs of those crippled areas, whether it’s providing over 800 scholarships for young students and launching micro-economic programs, or continuing its documentary work and leading thousands of young volunteers stateside.

“We believe that the problems of central Africa need to be tackled comprehensively, from peace to education. Solving them is no easy task, and it will take all of us doing all that we can to ensure it,” says the Invisible Children site. To see more videos or learn how you can make an impact, check out the Invisible Children’s website.

16 Responses to From Uganda with Love

I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE SELLING MEND BAGS ON HERE! I LITERALLY JUST SCREAMED!
<33333 ahh I love Invisible Children with al my heart, and I love ModCloth ever more now for selling MEND bags and spreading the word about the war and the child soldiers.

I love that MEND supports community development. I spent time in Africa this year with KnowledgeBeat.org and met with a lot of Zambian girls/women who face so many barriers to becoming self-confident and self-sufficient women. NPOs like MEND help make a change. Excellent buying choice!!

I cried when I read this. My major is Psychology, and I hope to get a degree in it and Foreign Language Interpretation, so that I can go to foreign countries and counsel women like these who have been in the slave trade. I’m so pleased to see that you guys are getting involved in this. I’m definitely saving my pennies for one of these bags.

i really love the idea of this. most charity organizations simply feed people in impoverished areas, forgetting that after they are done eating, they will start starving again (although, of course, charity in every form is great).

Thank you thank you thank you! I’ve been part of Invisible Children at my school for the last 3 years& I’m so happy to see that there are different parts of the organization helping out any way they can. Helping the people and even being penpals with one of them makes everything so much more enjoyable. I’m definitely buying one of the bags. I <3 Modcloth

This is so great! This will be my third year working with Invisible Children, and it’s so great to see them incorporated into companies I love. I think Invisible Children is so great at making merchandise that not only supports a good cause, but looks really good too, and these bags are no exception! I just wish I could afford one.

I’ve owned a MEND bag for several months now, and I love it. : ) It gets plenty of use a sleepover and school bag. I’m very proud to see my bag maker, Amono Lily, featured in the post. I cried when I first heard her story, and I feel incredibly lucky to own something made by a woman with such inner strength.